Poland's president has called on his Russian counterpart to try to end a spate of anti-Polish violence on the streets of Moscow.

Alexander Kwasniewski appealed to Vladimir Putin hours after a Polish journalist in Moscow was attacked.

He urged Mr Putin and the Russian authorities to punish the attackers, who he said were creating harmful tensions between Russia and Poland.

Two Polish diplomats have also been beaten up in Moscow in the past week.

Mr Kwasniewski described the beatings as organised events, and insisted it was within the power of the Russian security and police services to put an end to such attacks.

"The dangerous incidents of recent days create a climate of tension in Polish-Russian relations and cause a harmful escalation of distaste," the president said.

He called for "resolute action" to seek out and punish those responsible and to provide security for Poles living and working in Russia.

Revenge attacks

Pawel Reszka, a correspondent for the Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita, said he was attacked by a gang of men as he walked through a city subway close to his home in an upmarket area of Moscow popular with foreign journalists and diplomats.

"It was very similar to what happened to the embassy employees - a blow to the back of the head, I was thrown to the ground and then they kicked me," he told Polish state television.

The two diplomats were attacked in separate incidents on 3 August and 7 August.

One suffered head and chest injuries, a torn ear and bruises.

The second was attacked just 60 metres (65 yards) from the door of the Polish embassy and left with concussion.

The attacks are being widely labelled as revenge attacks for the mugging of four Russian children - three of them the children of diplomats - in a Warsaw park.

A gang of 15 stole the children's mobile phones while reportedly shouting anti-Russian slogans, an attack President Putin described as an "unfriendly act".